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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23309560">Not Like This</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lianria/pseuds/Lianria'>Lianria</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Beetlejuice (1988), Beetlejuice (TV 1989)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aged-Up Character(s), Beetlejuice has feelings, Character Death, Childhood Friends, Choking, Don't Like Don't Read, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Non-Consensual Groping, Not great ones but feelings, Stabbing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:20:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,958</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23309560</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lianria/pseuds/Lianria</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lydia has a really really bad morning.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beetlejuice/Lydia Deetz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was inspired by the stunning art of Mocamadrigal on Tumbler. This is a fun piece, I'm not debating the ship with anyone, I've shipped since I was a kid in the 90's. Don't like it? Why the hell did you click on this? The mood ring rat from broadway isn't here, this is my attempt at a combination of Movie!Beej and Toon!Beej</p><p>There may be a second chapter but I don't know.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thirty year old Lydia Deetz groaned as she dropped into the front seat of her black Volkswagen bug and settled her heavy camera bag and tiny black purse down in the passenger seat. As she started the engine and listened tiredly to the purr, she caught a glance at her watch. 5:00 AM. Normally Lydia was indifferent to this time of day, usually in some stage of sleep before her alarm went off at 6:00 AM, and on rare occasions 5:00AM would find Lydia slowly waking up with her head on a pillow in Betelgeuse's lap from where she had fallen asleep during one of their b-grade horror movie marathons. She liked those mornings, slowly waking up snuggled up in his lap, hearing the dead man snore surprisingly loudly for a being who no longer needed to breathe, she generally would turn over and snuggle further into his belly and fall back to sleep as his arm shifted around her shoulders.</p><p>Sadly 5:00AM was taking on an increasingly unpleasant tone for her these days however, as her the Lead Crime Scene Investigator for the tiny police department of Peaceful Pines. Generally she and her small team didn’t have much to do, but as more and more people move out of the city in search of the quiet of the country their work load was increasing. Along with the city dwellers came city problems, drugs and things like that. Beetlejuice loved it because it made him amp up his hauntings when she would let him out to stretch his legs a bit, get in a bio-exorcism here and there and he was far less inclined to cause mayhem at random. At the same time she knew he hated it because he was increasingly concerned about her safety, several arguments had occurred over her refusal to call him out when she was at a crime scene. She had a job to do and dealing with a typically hysterical ghost without him screwing with her teams equipment was the last thing she needed. She sighed and rolled her overly tense shoulders a few times trying to get the kinks out, before pulling down the visor to check the mirror.</p><p> </p><p>"God I need to get some more sleep. Starting to look like Beej these days."</p><p> </p><p>The sky was barely starting to lighten as she popped the little car into gear and headed home. She'd been at the almost twenty four hours working on the most recent "mugging gone wrong" which in reality was more of a "We have a serial killer in the area but we don't want to call it that because the FBI gets involved' and in the current political climate, the alphabet departments were a tad overzealous. As she drove through the empty streets she considered briefly stopping for a espresso just to get her home, but catching sight of the new barista, who looked far to much like Donny Juice for her comfort, his eyes always seemed to find her whenever she was near by. It was creepy, and if there was one thing Lydia Deetz knew well it was creepy. As she idled waiting on the red light to change she could feel those watery blue eyes find her, she very slowly raised her hand and rested the shining red stone and glinting gold band against the window.</p><p>Turns out her old wedding ring from THAT day was pretty useful as chasing off creeps at work. Apparently the gaudy hunk of metal was worth a good bit. Suited her just fine, she wore it for that purpose. Over the years every guy she dated was fun but… ehh, they all fell short of something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Finally after one date that by all rights should have been out of one of her darker fairy tails, Lydia found herself bored as all fuck. All she could think about was how his eyes were the wrong shade of blue, his hair was to neat, his clothes were too clean, and he smelled like some fancy cologne, not swamp and muck and ick. He was the prefect guy, smart, funny, knew what an emotion was and how to process it. He just wasn’t….. Betelgeuse. He wasn't Betelgeuse. It had surprised her but once she sat down and thought about it, it really wasn’t that surprising. Over the years he'd become her bestfriend, and like so many before he, Lydia Deetz had fallen in love with her best friend.</p><p> </p><p>Now she just needed to do something about it.</p>
<hr/><p>Betelgeuse snorted himself awake from where he had fallen asleep against Lydia's vanity mirror. She still wasn’t home, a quick shift showed her small office empty from the small mirror he had snuck in the only time she had summoned him to show him around. It was too small for her to notice, but it made him feel a bit better knowing he could at least check on her. His little breather was fragile as all fuck.</p><p>Beetlejuice straightened the sleeves of his magenta shirt as he settled in to the vanity mirror to wait for her arrival, his icy blue eyes drifting around the master bedroom bedecked in all shades of black. Beneath the bed, just barely peaking out he could make out a little cedar box she hadn't quite gotten tucked away. A filthy smirk crossed his face as he realized what it was, her little… treasure box. That had certainly come as a surprise to him. He hadn't realized over the years that his little fucking jailor had grown up. The Powers that Be had made fucking hilarious little call when his number had finally been called, they leashed him, turned him into a walking gag machine and handed the leash to a fifteen year old girl whom he had tried to con into marrying him. Which they found out the day she hit 21 had apparently been completed but wasn’t valid until her majority, which meant fuck all because there was another bit he was missing. Wasn't that just fucking peachy.</p><p>The PTB had recognized the kids death prone attitude so they assigned him to keep the little breather breathin' until she was ready to go and not because she pissed off some banshee or goblin. Which she had on several occasions, and there had been several close scrapes over the years. His horndog nature had never changed but he had been leashed in that respect until one random night somewhere around Lydia's senior year. She'd been off with Burp and Prune in dresses for some reason he didn't care to much about beyond the fact that she was happy and she wasn't making him dress up or bathe or various other unpleasant cleanliness activities. He'd been wandering around drinking and staring moodily at Dante's when he felt the invisible bubble around the place pop. Lydia wasn't the only one wearing a goofy smile the next day, but she was the only one face down on her bed sobbing that afternoon as he tried to wheedle it out of her what had happened and who did he need to kill. He didn't question his new found freedom to much, but he sure didn’t waste it.</p><p>It didn’t dawn on him that his Lyds had grown up much until he'd checked her dorm mirror only to find her with some… boy. And sure he'd watched, had to at least make sure the kid was firstly welcoming the boys attention and secondly well… free show. Honestly he didn’t realize it was Lyds until anti climactic ending. She made a point of not brining guys to the house ever since she graduated, and made sure not to carry a mirror with her when she went out. He made sure to tease the hell outta her every time he found a hickey on her, while internally he wanted very much to meet her beau and beat the ever living fuck outta the punk for touching his wife.</p><p>He certainly wasn't about to say anything when he caught sight of her slipping the gaudy ring from their wedding all those years ago. He didn’t quite get it, but it lined up with her bitching and moaning about some jackoff's at the police department having an issue understanding the word 'No'. He'd offered to take care of em, but she'd just smiled that little smile and he forgot what the hell they were talking about.</p><p>He was a simply guy really, he liked his beer, his bugs, boobs and Lydia. And after more than one late night summoning while she was sound asleep and caught in the depths of a fun sounding little dream, he knew she wanted him too. She was his whether she knew it or not and he was more that willing to let her think it was her idea, not that he had planned it per say but he sure wasn't complaining. Alls he had to do was wait.</p><p>Betelgeuse smirked when he heard the crunch of tires on gravel outside, she was home. Finally.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lydia yawned as she pulled her black cardigan on over the purple tank top before reaching for her bags and shitting the car door. As she walked up to the steps of her house, a crunching sound caught her tired attention, but she couldn't see anything and dismissed it as either a cat or she was just fucking exhausted.   She fished out her keys and unlocked the door, she shouldered it open and set her bags down before pulling out the digital camera she used for work and checked it over as she got it ready to go on the charger, she didn't hear the door click shut.</p><p> </p><p>"Beej? I'm ho--AHHHHH!"</p><p> </p><p>Lydia screamed as a heavy weight caught her hard around the waist knocking her and the camera to the floor. It landed on the trigger button causing the flash to go off in her eyes, blinding her. A heavy hand slammed across her chin cutting her lip on her teeth. A hand wrapped around her throat, cutting off her air before she got a second chance to scream. The heavy weight from before settled on her back, pinning the kicking woman to the floor, while one hand squeezed her pale throat tightly its mate reached under her to feel and squeeze the soft flesh. Lydia could hear her blood pounding in her ears and she could feel his hot breath whispering against her ear. She couldn’t see and she couldn’t speak, but she could fucking fight. Her hands left his wrist to claw at his eyes, she must have caught something because she could feel something warm and wet run through her fingers and down her arm. The hand beneath her jerked free and a punch to the side of the head stunned the already dazed woman. She swore she could hear a thumping sound over the ringing in her ears as she was flipped onto her back.</p>
<hr/><p>Her scream caught his attention faster than the stupid little nick name. He popped into the mirror she'd placed in view of the entryway and the living room. There was his Lyd's pinned down by some fuck nut in a black hoodie, a pale hand wrapped around her pretty throat and squeezing. He could see the blood rushing to her face as she blinked rapidly and gasped trying to speak. Betel slammed his fists against the glass snarling, but he knew that fuck head couldn't see him, only Lydia could. Once she called him all bets were off but until the she was on her own.</p><p>Then he saw the fucker's hand sliding around under Lydia's chest, he could hear the man's version of vile as he described what he wanted to do to her. Like that jackoff would ever stand a chance with his Lyds. He could have fucking cheered when her beautiful face curled into a snarl worthy of … well him, and her hands flew back to claw into the mutts face. His cackle was gleeful when he saw the blood pour from the face and run down her arm, he'd paint her a fucking picture with it. He roared when the fist connected with her temple and Lydia nearly went limp as her head bounced off the hard wood floor.</p>
<hr/><p>Lydia blinked rapidly as her vison slowly cleared at the weight shifted to her thighs and the hands again roved over her chest. Lydia swallowed a few times before trying to croak something out. If she could just get enough of a breath through her swelling trachea.</p><p> </p><p>"Bete-"</p><p>A hand slammed down over her mouth.</p><p>"shhhhh"</p><p> </p><p>Lydia flailed her hands around searching for anything she could reach to get this son of a bitch off of her. Her hand caught on the strap of her camera bag, her heavy camera bag holding the tripod and additional batteries she hadn’t had a chance to take out. She used all of her strength to wrap her hand in the bag and slam it into the side of the bastard's head. It stunned him enough to Lydia to wriggle free and lunge in the direction of the mirror where she could see the fuzzy outline of her friend.</p><p> </p><p>"Betel---AHHHHHHH!"</p><p>A sharp burning pain between her shoulder blades knocked what little air she had gained from her lungs. It was quickly withdrawn as she was flipped back onto her back and the hands wrapped around her throat, squeezing harder than before. She clawed at his hands, her long nails catching on something metallic on his wrist, one of her nails tearing off in the bed and slicking her hand with fresh blood. One hand left her throat and the sharp burning pain came back as the hunting knife hit her chest again. She slammed the heel of her hand up into his nose, the prick jerked back giving her enough wriggle room to get free and flip to her belly. She tried to scream his name as she tried to crawl across the floor towards the mirror containing her enraged friend, but nothing more than a wheezing burble of blood came from her mouth.</p>
<hr/><p>His unbeating heart dropped to his feet when he watched as that mother fucker flipped her onto her back and pawed at her. He snapped his business suit on as he watched her gasp for air.</p><p> </p><p>"C'mon babes you can do it, one good breath and call me out."</p><p> </p><p>He was so intent on her mouth he missed the guy diving to cover her mouth, pressing his body into her oxygen starved torso. What he didn’t miss was his smart little breather wrapping her hand in the leather strap of her camera bag and creaming the prick in the head. It was just enough to make the guy lose his balance and give Lydia a chance to wriggle out and start to crawl her way to him. Betel slammed his hands on the glass like he could force his hands through to reach out for her, but doing nothing more than making noise.</p><p> </p><p>"That’s my girl! Lyds No!!!"</p><p> </p><p>No sooner had she gotten free than the soon to be very dead man pulled a hunting knife from his boot and shoved it in her back. His fists slammed so hard into the mirror it started to splinter on his side. He snarled as he watched her gasp as she was flipped onto her back and that bastards hands wrapped around her already bruised and swollen throat.</p><p> </p><p>"Come on baby girl, fight back. Your not outta this fight yet. Just get enough to whisper, s'all I need babes."</p><p> </p><p>He watched as her little hands clawed at the hands holding her, flinched as he watched her nail rip off and fresh blood drip down her delicate fingers. He howled in rage as he saw the hunting knife be stabbed into her damaged chest. The crack that sounded as her palm smashed into the bastard's nose was one of the most beautiful sound's he'd ever heard.</p><p> </p><p>"Atta girl. C'mon baby get free, just a whisper you c'n do this babes."</p><p> </p><p>He could see her eyes actually recognized him this time but his smile fell as he watched the blood burble from her swollen perfect lips. Faintly he could smell smoke from behind him, the distant screams of his roommates as things caught fire down below. He was watching his Lyds be beaten and hurt before his eyes and there wasn't a Satain fucking thing he could do about it but yell behind the glass like some kind of psychotic cheerleader. </p><p> </p><p>"C'mon Lyds just hang in there. You can do this. CALL ME THE FUCK OUT!"</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lydia swallowed the blood in her mouth, it hurt to breathe but she had to try again. She opened her injured her mouth to try one more time but could only gasp as a hand clamped around her ankle and drug her back across the blood soaked floor. Her vision was tunneling, every breath hurt, but she could see him screaming for her, if she could just get to him it would all be okay. She kept trying to say his name but nothing but blood came out. The weight on her back returned and a hand wrapped itself around her neck again, and she could see its mate dragging the bloody hunting knife back up towards her damaged chest as she was yanked up by her throat. She could feel the pressure of the knife finding its place in her body again, her hands dropped limply to her sides as her vision narrowed onto Betel's face. The hand at her throat let go and found itself wrapped up in her hair and the knife pulled from her chest with a shallow slurping sound and Lydia vaguely heard the sound of shattering glass. The tension in her hair held her upright for a few shaking , tugging movements before it eased and Lydia fell face first towards the bloody wood floor of her entryway.</p><p> </p><p>She never felt the impact.</p><p>______________</p><p> </p><p>Betelgeuse slammed his fists into the mirror again as the hand clamped onto her ankle and dragged her back through her own blood. He could see her trying to say his name, but each time more and more blood poured from her lips. He growled lowly as he watched the sonofabitch crawl on top of her again and pull her up by her neck, her beautiful neck was bruised and covered in bloody hand prints. He could see her beautiful honey colored eyes dimmed and her pale skin was nearly translucent underneath all of the blood coating her body. He watched her eyes dim even more at the damn knife sank into her chest again, the blood slowly trickling from the new wound. But it was her hands, her tiny hands that had kept clawing for her freedom at the hands at her neck, the hand with the missing nail, her tiny blood soaked hands, finally falling limply to her sides that broke him. He could feel something in him snapping, the mirror before his cracking across and shattering, taking the image of her bloody body with it.</p><p> </p><p>Lydia Deetz was dead, and Betelgeuse was off his leash.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The aftermath</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Betelgeuse slowly stood from his crouch in the shards of shattered glass. A wave of his mossy covered hand and he was in a sharp black and white striped suit, cleaner than it had been in a very long time but still marred with sporadic stains. He ran his ringed fingers through his wild blonde hair, making a small attempt to control it. A snap of his fingers saw a lit cigarette appear in his lips as he crunched across the floor as the door opened before him on its own,  smoke from the smoldering couch in the living area drifted towards him. Jacques and Ginger were staring at him in annoyance.</p>
<p>"Was that really necessary Beetle-brain?"</p>
<p>"Wat 'appened to upset you so much?"</p>
<p>They knew it had to be bad for him to have been yelling like that and randomly lighting things on fire. It took a lot for the Ghost to lose control like that, and to be frank they didn’t think he still had access to that much of his power.</p>
<p>Betel glared at them both and opened his mouth to smart off as the door opened and their elusive landlord stormed in.</p>
<p>"Juice! That is it! Your outta-"</p>
<p>Betelgeuse wrapped his arm around the landlord's shoulders and drug the man into the other room.</p>
<p>"Crumbs we gotta have a little chat. See I'm done renting this shit hole. I've been here longer than you. You don’t even live here, just sleep here the required number of nights for it not to be stripped off ya. Now I've got a deal for ya."</p>
<p>Five minutes later, Crumbs was running out the door past a scrubbing Ginger and Jacques, Betel following a few moments later tucking a folded piece of paper in his jacket pocket.</p>
<p>"Ginger I need a favor."</p>
<p>"Fuck No."</p>
<p>"It's for Lydia."</p>
<p>"You fucked up again didn't ya?"</p>
<p>"She's movin in. Do me a favor and get Crumbs old room all cleaned up for her? Make it nice." Betel pulled a stack of cash out of his pocket and slid it over to her, Ginger smiled sadly.</p>
<p>"Lydia died? Poor kid, alright I'll do it for her. God knows you wouldn’t know the first thing about what to do for her."</p>
<p>The spider woman scuttled up the stairs to the room they had always avoided. Jacques turned to face Betelgeuse, taking in the dead mans twitchy appearance.</p>
<p>" Beeatle-juice, 'Ow did it 'appen?"</p>
<p>The cigarette fell to the ground, vanishing before hitting the floor.</p>
<p>"She was murdered. It was bad."</p>
<p>"She didn’t call you?"</p>
<p>"Couldn't. She was too banged up."</p>
<p>Jacques nodded and moved to stand by his roommate.</p>
<p>"Go get 'er."</p>
<p>Betelgeuse smirks at his boney roommate and moves to snap his fingers again. Nothing. Betel clears his throat and snaps again. And again. And again.</p>
<p>"That fucking bitch. SHE BLOCKED ME! LYDIA IS DEAD AND THAT DAMN PENCIL PUSHING MONSTROSITY BLOCKED ME FROM JUICING THERE!"</p>
<p>The Ghost stormed out of the house screaming for his car to warm up.</p>
<p>"Doomie! It's time to go get Mama!"</p>
<p>The yellow coup snarled and sped out of his garage, not even slowing down for his owner, just flinging open the driver door, before speeding off down the highway. Betel's hands held the steering wheel in a white knuckle grip as a low growl echoed from his chest.</p>
<p>I'm commin babes.</p>
<hr/>
<p><br/> Lydia wasn't expecting it to be the smell of smoke that woke her up, she had fully anticipated the scent of rot, skunk and open sewer that she had always associated with Betelgeuse. So the smoke threw the newly dead woman for a loop. Sitting up and making her way to her feet, the felt the slight pop as her spirit fully separated from her corpse.  She gently ran her hands over her face, everything felt normal, she could feel the raised wounds on her chest, and could see the single missing nail from her hand.</p>
<p>"Your face isn't swollen kid. You look like your last living memory and you died before any real swelling started. Just the stabs and the marks around your neck, plus the various minor dings here and there. You got lucky, not all of our murder vic's look so good by the time its all done. Now come on, we don't have a lot of time."</p>
<p>Lydia blinked her wide eyes at the smoking woman.</p>
<p>"Your Juno? I thought id wake up to…"</p>
<p>"Juice? Yeah he'll be here soon enough. Nah you’re a special case. All your running around the Neitherworld had that effect on ya. Prince Vince put the flag on your file himself. Now let's get goin. The cops will find you soon and you don't wanna hang around for all that."</p>
<p>Lydia took a look around.</p>
<p>"You'll be back kid don't worry."</p>
<p>"Standard haunting parameters right?"</p>
<p>"Not quite."</p>
<p>A lime green line traced out a door on her wall and the two walked through straight to Juno's office. A thick file sat in the middle of her desk, while a filing cabinet stuffed to the brim sat immediately beside her. There was a nameplate attached at the top. 'Betelgeuse'</p>
<p>Juno caught sight of Lydia's gaze.</p>
<p>"Yeah it’s all his. At least the last century or two. Got at least two more filled with paperwork that jackass has caused me. Now about you. You have a modified haunting, boundaries of the property when your topside, and down here you have free range. Free passage back and forth between the two for you and your spouse. Now he's stuck to the same parameters that you have topside unless he's summoned outside of those boundaries. Your stuck either way until<br/>your hundred and fifty years are up, then your able to go where he goes."</p>
<p>Lydia blinked in shock.</p>
<p>"My what? He's what?"</p>
<p>Juno looked up at Lydia with an aggravated expression.</p>
<p>"Your spouse kid. Enough of the ceremony got done, you wear the ring and have told several people your either engaged or married. Apparently that's enough for the Powers that Be. They signed off on the paperwork already. Be glad, gives you a bit of his Juice."</p>
<p>Lydia sat back heavily, her hands grasping the hem of her shirt.</p>
<p>"Where is he? I… I thought he would be here when I…"</p>
<p>"When you died? If I know him he's on his way. The second you died, we blocked his access to this area using his juice. He wants in here, he's gonna have to come in the front door. We were hoping it would give us enough time to either get you out of this or at least give you a warning."</p>
<p>Shaking hands twisted into the shirt bottom as her lips began to tremble, Lydia could feel the icy tears starting to prick at her eyes.</p>
<p>"Please… I… I want Betelgeuse."</p>
<p>Juno sighed sadly as she stood and walked around the desk. Lydia flinched away from her hands as the dead woman attempted to comfort her.</p>
<p>"It's hitting you now. Just breathe and try to relax. It'll pass soon, and why you want that jerk off I'll never understand. But he'll be here soon. Here take one of these, it'll help."</p>
<p>Juno passed the shaking ghoul a lit cigarette which she took gratefully. Several drags helped steady her shaking hands, a second and third cigarette followed and she could feel the trembling stopping. The shock and fear were abating, now she was angry.</p>
<p>"Where the fuck is he?"</p>
<hr/>
<p><br/>Doomie skidded to a stop by the outer façade of the small building, the offices looking like every DMV that has ever existed, bland, boring, and with a vague sense of everlasting despair and boredom. Betelgeuse slid from the seat of his car and the door slammed shut on its own.</p>
<p>"Wait here Dooms, I won't be long. Mama's had a rough day."</p>
<p>The car beeped sadly at him as Betelgeuse straightened his tie and made his way into the building. Familiar hallways flew by as the ghost sped up to reach his goal all the sooner. Lydia was in here, she knew he was coming for her. Girl was smart enough to know that he'd get to her soon as he could, make sure no other schmuck tried to get his mitts on her. And not that he was going to admit it, but seeing her treated like… that, had shaken him. He wouldn't stop until his little breath- his little ghoul was safe in his arms. He paused for a second as that thought settled. Lyds was dead. </p>
<p>No. No time for that, he could dwell on that little failure later, for now he needed to get to her. And there was a fucking line to get into the waiting room. Yeah that aint gonna work. As he looked around for a way go get back to where he needed to go, Betelgeuse could feel his anger rising, these deadbeats needed to get outta his way and they needed to do it now.</p>
<p>In the quiet of the hallway a very soft sound started to echo, a Young man in hiking boots whose skin was an unpleasent shade of red turned sharply looking at the floor. The sound of a rattler's tail grew louder and louder as the man found the end of the snake, as big around as his thigh. Well before it shriveled into jerky in that desert.  The man looked up into the snarling maw of very large, very sharp fangs, that were dripping with… was that venom? The poor recently deceased didn’t stick around to find out, preferring to bolt to the other end of the hallway as the massive jaw opened. The other's in line weren't so lucky, swallowed whole by the giant snake. </p>
<p>Miss Argentina looked up from where she was filing her nails, not even blinking twice as the large snake burst through the doors. The various deads around the room that could look up did so before drifting back to their handbooks and magazines.</p>
<p>"Take a Number"</p>
<p>HISSSS</p>
<p>"Take a number."</p>
<p>'Where is she Tina?"</p>
<p>"Take a number Juice."</p>
<p>"Lemme in. Lydia's in there."</p>
<p>"No. You want back there grab a number and wait."</p>
<p>The large eyes pressed against her window as Tina yawned and switched to filing the nails on her other hand. She'd seen just about every trick the idiot had and this was nothing. No she knew exactly what had happened, Juno had warned her that he was back at full strength. She also knew he was a blowhard, she was banking on it. Afterall Juno's last comment as she swept from the office was "STALL".</p>
<p>She looked up at the livid snake monster in her waiting room and reached around to pull a number from the tab. "8,002,381, now go. Sit." She stuck the strip of paper to one sharp fang and pulled the window shut. The snake hissed as he turned to see the number roll from 52 to 53. His large yellow eyes roamed around the room to see an old man sigh and stand up.</p>
<p>"Gimme your number."</p>
<p>The old guy looked up at the snarling face.</p>
<p>"Eat me asshole."</p>
<p>Tina flinched on the other side of the window as she watched the monster bite the old man in half, the little bit of paper fluttering to the floor. </p>
<p>"Looks like I'm next toots."</p>
<p>Tina rolled her eyes as the door began to open and Betelgeuse forced his massive head into the small opening and took off like a shot down the winding hallway. His tounge flickered as he made his was towards Juno's office. There it was, he'd know the taste of that scent anywhere. Lydia.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Juno fought hard to keep from laughing as the dark haired woman paced and chain smoked.</p>
<p>"Where the fuck is he? He should be here by now. Why isn't he here? That jackass."</p>
<p>She could feel the shifting magic nearing her office, he was close. Not that she was gonna tell the girl, she go so little amusements these days. Even less at Geuse's expense, which made this all the sweeter. The door to her office blew in, spooking the wide eyed woman out of her ranting as the massive snake tail slithered in to coil around her legs. Lydia cocked an eyebrow and poked the topmost coil hard.</p>
<p>"Shift back and hug me properly Beej."</p>
<p>The coils vanished and Lydia suddenly found herself wrapped in black and white striped arms, her face pressed into a firm, and strangely warm chest.</p>
<p>"Hiya babes."</p>
<p>"Hey Beej."</p>
<p>His hands came up to frame her face as he looked her over.</p>
<p>"How ya doin' kid?"</p>
<p>"Ehh not to bad, kinda dead."</p>
<p>Betelgeuse huffed a laugh and pulled her against him again. Juno cleared her throat and pushed a file his way.</p>
<p>"This is for you both. Look over it when you get the chance. Now get outta my office."</p>
<p>He snatched up the file and guided Lydia out of the office and straight into a parking lot. Doomie revved his engine as he beeped happily as the sight of his mother. She ran a cold hand over his grille.</p>
<p>"Hey Doomie boy. Take us to the Roadhouse please?"</p>
<p>The doors opened up and Betel settled her into the passenger side before juicing himself into the bench seat beside her. His arm took its place back around her shoulder and pulled her tight against him. He wasn’t willing to let her out of his sight, and apparently his grasp for long. Lydia laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.</p>
<p>"You know the way Doomie. Get a move on."</p>
<p>The drive was silent as he let her rest, the memory of her bloody face flashing before his eyes. He kept seeing her crawling to him, hearing her cries of pain, he tried to remember the face of the son of a bitch to did this to her, but came up blank every time. All he could remember was the black hoodie and the damned smile. As they pulled up to the roadhouse he gently shook her awake.</p>
<p>"C'mon, sleeping beauty. Jacques and Ginger know you’re here. She's got ya room all set up for you. And if I know ol' Bonehead he's whipped up a feast for you." <br/>Lydia nodded and slowly crawled out of the car, patting Doomie on the hood before following Betelgeuse into the house.</p>
<p>Breakfast was a interesting affair, all the nietherworld foods she'd only politely nibbled on before now made her mouth water. Betel let his roommates ramble on as Lydia munched happily on scareberry pancakes. His eyes stared hard at her neck, specifically the ring of bruises around her throat. Her skin had taken on a faint violet shade in her death, common of victims who didn’t have a lot of oxygen in them at their time of death. The marks were faint, but they were there. He could still see the pale hands wrapped around her neck.</p>
<p>Jacques and Ginger noticed the intense stare and excused themselves to run several errands that would keep them out of the house, far from the house, all day.  Lydia stood looking around the living area uncomfortably before pulling her favorite ghost into the living room to watch TV. He sat down hard on the singed couch as she yawned and laid down beside him, resting her head on his lap as she had so many times before. He couldn't tell you what they were watching as his hand found its way into her black locks, slowly dragging through the silky strands. Almost petting her, until he found it. A single inch wide lock of hair was shorter than the rest. He knew she was meticulous about her hair, had been since she'd grown older, he knew this wasn't something she would have let happen.</p>
<p>"Beej? What's going on? Pullin my hair kinda hard there?"</p>
<p>"He cut your hair babes. There's a hunk missing."</p>
<p>Lydia's hand reached up to find his own, and the jagged black strands he held.</p>
<p>"Oh yeah. That’s one of the guys tokens. All the other victims had a chunk missing. Not much I can do about it now. I'm dead so looks like its stuck that way."</p>
<p>Betelgeuse's eyes narrowed.</p>
<p>"Yeah. Dead. You were murdered babes, and I watched. I had to watch the whole damn thing."</p>
<p>Lydia set up and turned his face towards hers.</p>
<p>"I'm sorry Beej. I tried to call you. It's not your fault what happened to me. I couldn’t get the words out. I wasn't strong enough."</p>
<p>Betel pulled her against him with a snarl on his face.</p>
<p>"Strong enough my ass, babes. Ya fought like a wild cat. That mother fucker keptcha from makin a sound. Matter of fact he made damn sure you couldn’t make a sound. All yer other stiffs were just the knifings in alley's, but he followed you. Took you out in the hallway, right in front of the mirror, and made damn sure you couldn't talk."</p>
<p>"You think he'd been watching me? That he knew about you? No way, Beej we were careful. Made sure you only got summoned when I was alone in the house. That way no one could accuse you of letting their be proof of the afterlife making its rounds of the living world."</p>
<p>Her jaw creaked in another huge yawn. Betel shook himself from his building anger and stood pulling the woman up with him.</p>
<p>"Beej? Are you… mad at me? For not calling you?"</p>
<p>"No babes, no. I ain't mad atcha! You fought like hell, I'm fuckin proud of ya! Naw I'm pissed at myself. I shoulda been there, I shoulda done more than just… watched. It wasn't supposed to happen like that. It was supposed to be gentle, and when you were ready."</p>
<p>"Awe Beej, I've always been ready. Kinda hard not to be when all the best people I know are already dead."</p>
<p>"Let's go check outcha room Lyds. See what ol' spidey girl cooked up for you."</p>
<hr/>
<p><br/>The room was done up in tasteful purple and black spider silks, Lydia's favorite blanket draped across the bed. It was made from her old red poncho from their adventures when she was a kid. <br/>Betel looked around checking all the windows and making sure the place was locked up tight, it was unlikely that anyone would mess with her out here, but better safe than sorry. He waved his hand and a small brass bell attached itself to the post of her headboard.</p>
<p>"Get some sleep babes. If you need anything, and I mean anything at all ring this bell. And I'll come running. Or just come to my room. Or the name, whatever. If you need anything, you call me."</p>
<p>Lydia wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him in for a tight hug. His arms held her tighter than she could remember him ever doing, pressing her agaist him from shoulder to knee. Her face turned and nuzzled into his neck with a soft sigh. Oh this was nice, she'd imagined this before, but this was so much better.</p>
<p>"I'll be alright Beej. I promise if I need you, I will call you."</p>
<p>She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek and stepped out of his embrace to invesitgate the dresser. He was still standing there watching as she pulled a dark red night gown from a drawer and moved to the dressing screen. He stared around the room while she dressed, he knew he should leave, but he didn’t. He didn't even try to sneak a peek as she dressed, because damnit there was a light back there and he could make out every damn curve of her little self as she draped the long sleeved nightgown over her form.  Betel tried to give her a smile as she crawled into bed and snuggled in, he must have some close because she gave him a beaming smile in return. He snapped his fingers and the lights shut off as he left the room.</p>
<p>He stepped into his room, waving his hand to clean up whatever mess what still around from his tantrum earlier on. His mirror reformed, and out of habit he waved his hand to check in with one of the mirrors in her house. His view was from the small mirror over the mantle, he could see the blood stain on the floor, the little yellow markers for evidence. A familiar man stepped into the house and gagged at the sight of the blood on the floor. He moved quickly to the bathroom, and Betelgeuse followed.</p>
<p>"Betelgeuse."</p>
<p>" Chuck."</p>
<p>"Is she alright?"</p>
<p>"Sleepin now. First day as a stiff can take it outta ya."</p>
<p>"Did.. Did she suffer?"</p>
<p>Betelgeuse sighed and manifested as much as he could in the mirror.</p>
<p>"She fought like a wildcat Chuck. She didn’t go down easy. Once the place is cleaned up and she's ready I'll bring her back here. I'm not sure what her haunting perimeter is, but I'll figure it out."</p>
<p>Charles Deetz stared at the dead man who had nearly ruined their lives so long ago.</p>
<p>"Take care of her."</p>
<p>"Always will Chuck."</p>
<p>He bolted to her room minutes later at the sound of her scream, he could hear her whispering to herself through the door. She was calming herself down. Betelgeuse waited patiently for the sounds to quiet again, before gently slipping into the room and juicing up a chair to place beside her bed. She'd fallen back to sleep, but he was going to sit with her to make sure she stayed that way. He wasn't there for her before, but he could be there for her now.</p>
<hr/>
<p><br/>She'd barely drifted off before that face was hovering above her again. She could see it now, clear as day, his voice ringing in her ears.  She woke with a scream, her hand shooting up for the bell he had installed. She caught herself before her hand could close around the string to ring it. </p>
<p>No. She was better than this, it was just a dream. She was fine.</p>
<p>Slowly her exhaustion won out and she fell back into empty peaceful dreams. As she slept a feeling of peace drifted over her and she slept soundly for the rest of the day.</p>
<p> </p>
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